Kamakawi Word of the Day

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ke

• (syl.) glyph for the syllable ke in the Kamakawi syllabary
• (let.) name of the Zhyler alphabet letter k
• (n.) tooth

Ka fili ei i ke kau!
“I lost a tooth!”

Notes: This is a weird iku. Essentially, the “tooth” is the top part (the little three-sided…tooth-looking thing). That wasn’t big enough to be a glyph, though, so a line was drawn underneath (a similar strategy is used with other glyphs). That little tooth, though, winds up showing up in a lot of other iku (kepi, for example) to (quite usefully) denote the syllable ke. Due its size and funky shape, though, the added toothlet looks like a bizarre little tacked on element. I’d be lying if I said I hate it.

The determined version, of course, is used for the word “tooth”; the undetermined version for all other uses.

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ka

• (syl.) glyph for the syllable ka in the Kamakawi syllabary
• (num.) two
• (det.) both
• (adj.) second
• (v.) to double
• (suf.) creates a dual

Au tei iaka eyana!
“You two dance well!”

Notes: The iku for ka is such because you have two dots that connect. So even though it looks like our “one”, or even a single tally, it’s not one: it’s two.

As mentioned previously, the determined version of ka is used for “to double”, but with this one, the real issue is pronouns.

So Kamakawi kind of has dual and trial pronouns, but not really. There are special forms for dual and trial first person inclusive pronouns, but other than that, dual and trial “pronouns” are formed by suffixing a number to the singular pronoun form. It’s roughly the equivalent of saying something “you two” in English.

And this suffixing isn’t restricted to two and three. You can suffix any number (within reason) and produce a new pronoun. The only difference is that the presence of the inclusive first person dual and trial pronouns argue (in a way) for a dual and trial category along with singular and plural. Me, I don’t worry about it so much. I figure it does what it does, and that’s enough.

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tu

• (syl.) glyph for the syllable tu in the Kamakawi syllabary
• (n.) bubble
• (v.) to be bulbous (kind of like a gremlin when they get wet and start reproducing)
• (adj.) bulbous

A hala’i i tu keyo ima.
“Life is but an empty bubble.”

Notes: Heh, heh… That’s a line from one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen My Man Godfrey. It stars William Powell and Carole Lombard, and if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

In the old form of the writing system, there were plenty of circles, and this was one of them. All circles were turned into boxes, though, and so the lines were added to make sure it was understood that this was a bubble. Circles were later reintroduced, of course (for example, see loana), but this iku (and others like it) were already set.

The determined form of this iku is actually used rarely, though it would be used as one would expect (for the noun or verb forms). It’s uncommon because I think it looks cluttered: It’s bizarre to have this short horizontal line right below a short vertical line. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like the look of it, so I don’t use it a lot.

Oh, and, by the way, Gremlins is another good one if you haven’t seen it.

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to

• (syl.) glyph for the syllable to in the Kamakawi syllabary
• (num.) four
• (adj.) fourth
• (v.) to quadruple

Ka hava ei i to toti!
“I ate four yams!”

Notes: I would have preferred the first number introduced on this blog to be “one” (or even “zero”), but to is a syllabic glyph, as well, so here we are.

The Kamakawi digits from one to nine are more or less iconic, their present forms being derived from a system of dots that were later converted into strokes. With to, the “four” part of it is actually the four corners, not the four sides. Keeping that in mind will actually make understanding the iku for the digits five through nine easier.

The determined form of to is used only for the verb “to quadruple”. Most numbers can be used as verbs meaning “to multiply by x“, where x is the digit in question, but at a certain point it gets silly, so a different expression is used. To is small enough, though, that it’s not unheard of to see it used thus.

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ti

• (syl.) glyph for the syllable ti in the Kamakawi syllabary
• (prep.) by means of, by way of, via, through, by (often marks experiencers)
• (prep.) with (instrumental)
• (prep.) by (oblique)
• (prep.) introduces quoted material in a dialogue
• (n.) roof (of a hut or house)
• (pref.) genitival prefix that denotes authorship (for more information, see the section on Kamakawi pronouns)

A mata’u ei ti lea.
“I’m seen by him.”

Notes: Ti ended up bearing a large functional load in the actual history of Kamakawi (not its conhistory or conconhistory). It began as a simple instrumental preposition, but soon it was marking the reintroduced agents of passive verbs, and then it started marking “other” arguments for so-called “quirky” verbs. As such, it’s now a part of the case system of Kamakawi.

This iku comes from an early picture of an arm (the one that utilizes an instrument). I’ve included the determined version, but I’m not sure why… It’s not used at all. I guess if anyone wanted to take a look at it, there it is, but I just double-checked, and the determined version of ti serves no function in Kamakawi. Maybe some day in the future I’ll find a use for it (in which case I’ll have to edit this entry), but for the time being, this is it.

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te

• (syl.) glyph for the syllable te in the Kamakawi syllabary
• (let.) name of the Zhyler alphabet letter t
• (prep.) on, on top of
• (v.) to be on top of something
• (n.) top
• (n.) roof (of a hut or house)
• (prep.) from (only in the sense of “from off of the top of”)
• (v.) to be sandy
• (adj.) sandy

A mata ei i lea te e nake.
“I see him on the cliff.”

Notes: Te is polyfunctional, but deservedly so (this word earned it). For most of the “top” meanings (nominal, verbal) the determined form is used; the undetermined form is used for the rest (including the prepositional forms).

Then there are these words having to do with “sandy”. The story with those is that there existed an old derivation process whereby ablaut changed a given substance-like word into a word meaning “covered with that substance”. Te, then, is the ablaut form of ta: yesterday’s word which means “sand”.

A word on this iku. I described in the entry for po the strategy whereby a kind of three-sided “box” is used as a point of reference for a number of structural/relational iku. This makes use of the same system. In te, the wedge shape is on top of the box, which itself has been shrunk to fit in the square occupied by the iku. That short box appears in several other iku, many of which you’ll likely see in the days, weeks, months, years, decades and…no, I guess that’s it—to come.

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ta

• (syl.) glyph for the syllable ta in the Kamakawi syllabary
• (n.) sand
• (suf.) after (placed directly after the subject status marker)

Au fule e’i ae ta ti’i.
“I need my feet in the sand.”

Notes: This is easily one of my favorite iku. It did come from a kind of picture of “sand” (just an “all over” type thing), so it is classified as an ikuiku, even though it probably doesn’t look much like sand now.

The determined version of the glyph is reserved solely for the noun “sand”; the undetermined versions are used for the other two functions. You’ll be seeing this iku (its form) in a lot of other glyphs to come. In fact, come to think of it, it’s already come up in alama, “sand crab”. Coolio.

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pu

• (syl.) glyph for the syllable pu in the Kamakawi syllabary
• (v.) to perform a single task, to do

A pu ia i amo!
“Do it!”

Notes: One of my least favorite concepts for one of my least favorite syllables. The idea here is more of doing something one is forced to do that one doesn’t want to do. That’s where the iku comes from (a human pushing something). The reduplication pupu means, of course, “to work”, which means that I almost never use the word.

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po

• (syl.) glyph for the syllable po in the Kamakawi syllabary
• (n.) outside (i.e. the outside of something)
• (prep.) outside (of)
• (v.) to be outside of
• (pref.) genitive prefix used between humans that bear a professional relationship (for more information, see the section on Kamakawi pronouns)
• (pref.) from (used to indicate where one is from [e.g. one's place of origin])
• (pref.) with respect to, regarding, as for, for, in the opinion of, about, concerning
• (pref.) particle used in quantifying expressions (e.g. modifies “apples” in “How many apples are there?”)
• (pref.) individuative marker (e.g. serves as the word “of” in “I’ve eaten four of the five apples”)
• (part.) marks the beginning of a relative clause

A po ei ie pale pokau mata’u ti eya kipe.
“I’m outside the house we saw yesterday.”

Notes: Yes, this one is an ikuiku, too. The idea is you have some sort of enclosure (the three-sided box), and the stroke is outside that box. There are several structural iku that are built using this three-sided box as an edifice or enclosure. I believe this is the first we’ve come across. There will be more in the future.

The determined iku is used most consistently when po is being used as a noun. It’s also seen when it’s used as a verb, but not consistently. The rest of the time the iku is undetermined.

I realize this word is busy, but that’s just the way it ended up. It bears a large functional load, and has proved very useful to me over the years. It’s a small little word, but I like it.

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pi

• (syl.) glyph for the syllable pi in the Kamakawi syllabary
• (n.) pelican
• (v.) to have space (for), to have a large container, to have room for

Ka hava pi ie nawa.
“The pelican ate the fish.”

Notes: This iku derives from an earlier pictograph of a pelican. Now it looks like what you see above. I still think it’s pretty close. It may on account of my familiarity with the script, but I still see a pelican when I look at this one.

This iku ended up being one of my favorites, shapewise, so I found a way to use it in a bunch of different words. By and by they’ll show up here.